A Shared Destiny
by bionic4ever
Summary: AND3: Jaime has almost completely recovered from her ordeal with New Destiny, but is everything as idyllic as it seems?
1. Chapter 1

**A Shared Destiny**

Chapter One

"Jaime, are you supposed to be out of bed by yourself?" Steve chided, trying to sound stern even as he pulled her close for a tender embrace.

"Probably not," she answered, touching his cheek and then wrapping her arms around him as well. "You gonna turn me in to Rudy? 'Cause then he might not let me leave tomorrow -"

"Well...I might be persuaded," he teased with a wicked grin.

"Oh, really?" Jaime tilted her head up and met Steve's lips with her own, softly and a little flirtatiously.

"I suppose you've been here long enough," Steve conceded, caressing her face and hair while still marveling that the fates were giving them back to each other one more time.

"Too long!" she said firmly, punctuating it with another kiss. It had been nearly a month since they'd both been taken prisoner by New Destiny, a group of American terrorists who were trying to build a cyborg of their own. Jaime had nearly died when they'd removed her power cell to steal its data, but Steve had removed his own power source and managed to keep them both alive by switching it back and forth between them, passing out himself just as the rescue team arrived.

"Why don't we get you back in bed before Rudy -"

"A-hmm-mm!" They had been so absorbed in each other that neither of them noticed Rudy, who was now waiting beside the empty bed, until the doctor cleared his throat to announce his presence. "Hi guys," he said with a smile. "Jaime, I see you're getting lots of rest before the big day tomorrow." Rudy was as happy as anyone to see the two of them back in each other's arms, but he had to tease - just a little - and get his point across at the same time.

Steve kept one arm around Jaime as he helped her back to her bed. Rudy shook his head in mock indignation. "And this is the man I'm releasing my patient to; the one I'm entrusting with her well-being."

"Rudy," Steve began, "you know I'll take good care of her."

"I do know that, or she wouldn't be leaving," Rudy replied. "Steve, you're probably the only person I know who'll keep an even closer eye on my patient than I would myself."

"Got that right, Doc!"

"And I think getting away for awhile will do both of you a world of good." Oscar had 'assigned' both of them to a private vacation cabin, owned by the OSI, on a tiny island just a few miles off of Paradise Beach. Turquoise blue water, lush foliage and a brilliantly white sandy beach, with all the privacy they could ask for, should have Jaime glowing with health again in no time.

Her recovery had been painstakingly long and slow. Her body had begun to reject the tracking device implanted in her leg, but the resulting blood clot was discovered in its earliest stage and safely removed. However easy the removal, though, it was still major surgery and had taken a lot out of her, sapping the last bit of strength from her severely weakened body. After allowing her some time to gain back a little strength, she'd also endured reconstructive surgery on her damaged bionics. The double surgical whammy had depleted her so drastically that she was still using a wheelchair to get around while she worked on standing and walking short distances with someone to help her.

"Any chance of leaving that damn thing here with you?" Jaime asked, looking at the much-hated chair.

"Sorry, Kiddo," Rudy answered. "But by the end of your two weeks in Paradise, you'll probably be just about done with it. Steve, don't let this little lady bat her eyelashes at you and make you forget what she's supposed to be doing. _You_ are in charge, and if she isn't cooperative, I expect to hear about it."

Steve grinned. "Hear that, Sweetheart? You have to be cooperative..."

"And you'll call in a full report to me, at least once a day, more often if you notice anything unusual. Maybe after the first week you can skip a few days; we'll play it by ear."

"Not to worry, Doc. I'll keep her under control."

Jaime rolled her eyes at them both. Rudy moved toward the door, motioning for Steve to follow. "I want you to rest now," Rudy told her. "Get a solid night's sleep, and we'll both see you in the morning."

Steve leaned down to kiss her goodnight, and turned off the light on his way out the door.

"Rudy, I need to talk to you, if you've got a minute," Steve said, once they were well out of Jaime's range of hearing.

"What's up? Second thoughts about taking on the responsibility?"

"Not at all. I was wondering about her memory. Now that she's had a second blood clot, how safe is it to be filling in the blanks for her? 'Cause you know she's gonna be asking a lot of questions once we're alone out there."

Rudy nodded. "I'd prefer, of course, that memories come to her spontaneously, but if she asks a specific question, I'd say go ahead and answer it. Just keep a very close eye on her for any symptoms she might try to hide from you."

"Got it. Thanks again, Rudy - for everything."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Jaime bubbled with excitement as their private plane got closer to its destination. "Feels good to be outta there, doesn't it?" Steve said, stating the obvious. Their eyes met, and - there it was again! - the almost magnetic spark between them that grabbed ahold and made it nearly impossible to look away. Sometimes when Steve looked at her, she seemed like the old Jaime again, before her amnesia, but Steve no longer dwelled on what they'd lost. The present day was full of plenty of joy and promise, and he intended to savor every second of it.

So did Jaime. "How long 'til we get there?" she asked, sounding like a small, impatient child. "This is gonna be so great! Do we really have two whole weeks, all to ourselves? I haven't had a vacation in so long...!"

Steve smiled. "Who put the extra quarter in you today?" he teased.

"Sorry. I'll shut up."

"Don't you dare shut up. It's great to see you so happy."

"Did we ever go away like this - _before_?" Jaime asked, suddenly a million miles away.

The questions were starting already. "Of course we did," he told her. "Our families took vacations together almost every summer."

"No, I mean later - just us."

"Well, yeah, a few times."

"Steve? I've been wondering about something..."

"You're awfully cute when you blush."

"You know what I'm gonna ask, don't you?" Jaime said, stalling, trying to come up with the words.

"It's pretty hard to make you blush, so yeah, I probably do."

Jaime made a face at him. "You're gonna make me say it anyway, aren't you?"

"Oh, you bet; wouldn't miss it for the world!"

"Alright. But you are so mean!" She took a deep breath. "When we were...together, before...did we ever...have sex?"

"Nope."

"Oh." Jaime was shocked; not the answer she was expecting. "I guess I assumed -"

Steve grinned wickedly. "But - we did make love."

"Oh, you brat!" she said, hitting him playfully.

"You wanted to know. You're not up to that yet, though."

"I know. That's why I asked. Won't it be hard for you, staying in the same cabin and not - you know?"

"Jaime," he said, gently taking her hand, "I'm happy just to be with you. That was all a different lifetime ago, and who knows - maybe someday we'll make some new memories..."

------

Jaime was cooperative, at first, allowing Steve to wheel her into the cabin. When he suggested she lie down and rest for an hour or two, though, her stubborn streak began to rear its ugly head.

"But we just got here! I wanna look around, wade in the surf -"

"Jaime -" Steve only had to raise one eyebrow to quiet her.

"Fine," she grumbled, jokingly sticking out her lower lip, "but even Rudy would've let me dip my toes in the water first."

"Well, ok," he laughed, "if that's all you wanted..." Steve picked Jaime up in his arms, carried her out to the edge of the water and - for one millisecond - touched her toes to the surf. "Now your toes got wet, and you, Sweetheart, are gonna take a rest." He carried her back into the cabin, laid her down on the bed and tucked the sheet in around her. "At least two hours," he told her, but she was already half-asleep.

Once he was sure Jaime was sound asleep, he picked up the phone at the other end of the cabin and called Rudy. "Steve!" Rudy greeted him jovially. "How's our patient?"

"The trip took more out of her than she thought it would, but she's fine. A little pale, but she actually agreed to take a nap."

"Good work, Doctor," Rudy told him.

"Rudy, she's already asking questions...she started while we were still on the plane."

"Just take 'em as they come. Let me know if she starts remembering things on her own; that would be important. And if she has any pain or unusual symptoms, I'd like to know right away."

"Gotcha," Steve answered. "Oh, Rudy? If you see Oscar, tell him we both said thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The next afternoon, Jaime sat on the beach and watched the sea birds dive and play in the waves. She had refused the blanket Steve spread out for her, preferring to sit directly in the warm sand. Steve joined her after making his daily phone call to Rudy.

"What'cha thinking about?" he asked, noting the faraway look in her eyes.

"What New Destiny did to us, and what they were gonna do. That was always my worst fear, ever since I got the bionics."

"I know."

"You saved my life," she said simply.

"And you were trying to save mine."

"Thank you. I guess I can even survive the worst nightmare imaginable, as long as I've got you."

Steve smiled reassuringly at her. "What else is on your mind?"

"Us."

"Again?"

"Still," she corrected. "Jim and Helen showed me our engagement announcement, from the newspaper."

"I know; Oscar told me."

"Steve, you looked so happy. We both did."

"We were. But I'm happy now, too. Happy that we're both still in one piece, and happy to still be in your life, in whatever capacity you need me to be."

"They showed me all sorts of pictures. Us, when we were kids, especially. I wanted to remember so badly but it just wouldn't happen. Some stuff, it felt like I was somehow closer to getting, but it never came."

"Maybe you were trying too hard." Steve shifted off of the blanket and moved onto the sand, closer to Jaime. He gently cupped her chin in his hand and looked straight into her eyes. "Sweetheart, if it's meant to come back to you, it will - when the time is right, and not one second before that, no matter how hard you try. So, stop trying and let your body decide what's right."

Jaime's eyes lit up. "My body, huh?" She leaned into him and sealed her lips to his. Almost as though they were reacting to some long-ago sensory memory, their arms were soon firmly around each other's waist. "What's my body saying right now, Colonel?"

Steve struggled to maintain composure. Damn, he wanted her! He also knew Rudy would have his head on a platter. "I think your body might be a few days, or even a little longer, ahead of itself," he said, forcing himself to end the kiss, but still holding her close. "You're still recovering; what kind of vacation would it be if you had to spend the whole two weeks in bed?"

Jaime grinned. "You really want me to answer that?"

"That's not what I meant," he chuckled.

"I know, but it was fun to imagine." She looked back out at the water, quiet for a few moments, thinking. "Am I a lot different now?"

"From what?"

"From - before."

"Jaime, you need to stop dwelling on before or you're gonna miss the good stuff that's happening now."

"_Am I_ _different_?"

"Not really," he said, knowing she wasn't letting go of it without an answer. "You've definitely got the same stubborn streak. And the same pure, loving heart you always had."

"What's different? Aside from the swiss cheese memory, I mean."

"I'd have to say that, if anything, you're even more obstinate than you used to be."

"Steve!"

"How 'bout we just enjoy what we have?" he suggested. "I love you for who you are now, so stop tormenting yourself. Please?"

Jaime got up and started walking on shaky legs toward the back of the cabin and the small thicket of woods. "I'm gonna go for a walk. I - need to think for awhile."

"Jaime -" _Yep, she is definitely still stubborn, _he told himself. "Don't stay out there too long," he called to her. "Remember your legs are still weak." _She has got to be the most frustrating, unpredictable, bull-headed - and beautiful - woman I've ever known._

Steve gave her half an hour, and when she hadn't come back he decided to go and look for her. Just as he rounded the back of the cabin, he saw her emerging from between the trees, and his heart sank to his feet. She was clutching her head in both hands and groaning softly. Had their talk of the past already been too much for her?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Steve was instantly at Jaime's side. "What is it, Sweetheart? Pain? Are you dizzy? C'mon - we'll call Rudy." Steve swept her up to carry her into the cabin.

"Oh, relax," Jaime said, laughing. "Look." She removed her hands from her head and Steve, his eyes level with her hairline, got a good, close look at...bird poop: a huge splotch, right on her head.

"You have _got _to be kidding!" he said, laughing with her as he put her feet back on the ground. They looked at each other and laughed even harder until they fell into each other's arms.

"You worry too much," she told him when they'd finally caught their breath. "Seriously - I'm not that fragile!"

"I don't want anything to happen to you," Steve said, suddenly turning somber.

"Tell ya what: you can worry later. Right now I need to get this crud out of my hair. Race you to the water!"

"Jaime, just take -" she was already halfway there before he could finish his sentence "-it easy." He walked to the water's edge and watched fondly as she dove into the waves with the ease and grace of a dolphin. She bobbed underwater for a few seconds and surfaced, crud-free.

"If that's your idea of a race, Austin, you're getting soft in your old age," she giggled.

Steve mustered up his best Rudy Wells imitation: "Steve, you're in charge of my patient's well-being, and Jaime, you will cooperate."

"Yeah, yeah - I'm coming out. Party pooper."

He pointed to the blanket, still spread out in the sand. "You really do need to rest now. You've been out of the chair almost all day, and -"

A movement out toward the horizon suddenly caught his eye. As he zeroed in for a closer look, Steve's mind instantly processed what he was hoping he wouldn't see. A boat was speeding in their direction - not a lost tourist or a fishing vessel, either - and even before his mind absorbed the rifle with a telescopic sight, he was already reacting.

"Jaime, get down. In the water - NOW!"

"You just said -"

Steve didn't let her finish the thought. Instinctively, he dove toward her, pushing her underwater just as a shot rang out, shattering the peace of their paradise. He held her under for as long as he could, and when they surfaced, the boat was gone.

Jaime had head the shot, but it was incomprehensible in such an idyllic place. "What the - Oh, God, your arm!" Steve hadn't even realized he'd been hit, but a wound to his upper left arm was quickly turning the water around them an ugly shade of red. With Jaime supporting him now, instead of the other way around, they moved slowly into the cabin.

"I'm ok," Steve insisted, as Jaime put him in a chair and wrapped a towel around his arm to stop the bleeding. "I think it only grazed me. You need to rest now, and I'm gonna call Oscar."

"Hush. What I need is to look at that arm." She kept pressure on it a little longer, then began to unwrap it, dabbing gently at the wound. "You're right - it's a surface wound. No bullet in it. It's a pretty big one, though." The bullet had grazed a shallow path about six inches long, but at least it had stopped bleeding.

"Jaime, will you please sit down?"

"At this moment, Austin, I am in charge. I'll get that cleaned up and wrapped, then I will call Oscar."

"Compromise: I'll clean it while you rest for a few minutes. Then you can wrap it and we'll both call Oscar."

In response, Jaime sank into a chair and smiled weakly at him. While he was in the kitchen, still cleaning his arm, the phone rang and Jaime picked it up. "Hello," she said quietly.

"Babe, it's me."

"Oscar?"

"Jaime, is everything all right? My men just intercepted a boat they said might've taken a shot at you."

"Your men?"

"You didn't think I'd send my two top operatives, and my two favorite people, into the middle of nowhere without protection, did you?"

"I'm alright, but Steve was hit."

"I'm ok, too, Oscar," Steve insisted, from the extension in the kitchen. "Just a flesh wound, and I've got an excellent nurse."

"So now you two are the walking wounded, taking care of each other," Rudy was also on an extension. "Make sure you clean it thoroughly, wrap it up -"

"He will," Jaime answered. "I'm making sure of it. What happens now, Oscar?"

"That depends," Oscar replied. "If I can ascertain that you're completely safe, do you want to stay, or should I send a plane for you? I can have one out there by tonight."

"No!" came the voices on both island extensions.

"But how can you be sure, at this point?" Steve asked.

"Well," Oscar told them, "as soon as we hang up, I'm going to have a nice, pleasant - _private_ - chat with Jack Hansen."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Hansen stubbornly refused to flinch as his cuffed and shackled body was slammed against the concrete wall. "How many more, Jack?" Oscar demanded, shouting just inches from Hansen's face. He pinned him to the wall with one hand while he punched him with the other.

"Punching a man in chains is pretty low, Oscar, even for you -"

"Dammit - how many?"

"Assault and Battery, abuse of a federal prisoner. You're on awfully thin ice," Hansen taunted.

Oscar glared at him. "I could've had you hauled before a tribunal and executed within 72 hours, instead of locked in a cell awaiting trial. Of course, I could still change my mind." He threw another punch. "I'm only asking one more time: **_HOW MANY_**?"

"There's a plane - a little commuter junket-type - taking off from Paradise Island in about six hours. They'll have a bomb -"

Oscar slammed his fist into Hansen's stomach. "And the other mole?"

"There isn't one." Jack saw Oscar draw his fist back again, and kept talking. "My secretary has been passing on my messages, but she's innocent. Doesn't have a clue what any of it means."

The OSI director slammed the shackled man against the wall one more time and let him fall to the ground. "Nothing else?" Oscar demanded.

"No...that's all of it."

"Just remember, Jack: if they die, so do you!"

------

Rudy removed his stethoscope, snapped his medical bag shut and smiled. "I'd have to agree with you, Steve. You have an excellent nurse." He turned to Jaime. "And you, young lady, have an excellent caretaker as well. The two of you make a grade-A team."

"I've always thought so," Steve agreed.

"They're both alright, then?" Oscar asked, hovering just outside the group of three.

"We should be so alright," the doctor confirmed. "I'm leaving some antibiotic cream for Steve's arm and some vitamins for Jaime. They'll be just fine. As soon as we leave them alone, that is."

Steve chuckled. "We really appreciate the two of you flying all the way down here."

"Not a problem," Rudy told him. "In fact, Oscar's arranged for me to stay three or four days - all expenses paid - over on Paradise Island, so I'll be close by. I won't bug you, though, unless you need me. I'll give you the number."

"You too, Oscar?" Jaime asked. "Are you actually taking some time off?"

"I'll be flying back first thing in the morning," he answered.

Jaime shook her head. "You won't ever change."

------

"Do you think Oscar'll ever retire?" Jaime asked the next morning as they watched the sunrise.

"Naah - not in his cards."

"What about us?" Jaime was suddenly more interested in Steve's eyes than in the sun. "What's in the cards for us?"

"For starters, at least twelve more days of sun, sand, surf...and bird poop."

"Steve!" Jaime couldn't even pretend to be angry with him. Steve's eyes drew her closer and his lips held her there. After a long, sweet kiss, Jaime had another thought. "Maybe it'd be better if I didn't get my memory back." Steve looked at her quizzically. "What we have now is so perfect; I don't want it to change." Steve smiled, content just to listen. "I wouldn't wish what we just went through on anyone," Jaime told him, "but it's kind of ironic that it took New Destiny to show us that our destiny really is to be together."

"I've always thought destiny is what you make it," Steve answered, "and like Rudy said, we make a great team. Something tells me we always will."

END


End file.
